Baltimore: Recreation

Sightseeing

With its extensively developed waterfront, overhead sky-walks, and numerous plazas and promenades, downtown Baltimore is ideally geared to the pedestrian tourist. Many visitors begin their tour of the city at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, easily the city's most picturesque area. A one-half-mile brick promenade along the water enables visitors to walk to the many attractions at water's edge.

The Maryland Science Center, set directly on the water, is especially popular with children. Three block-length floors of science exhibits, hands-on displays, and live science
demonstrations are featured. The Davis Planetarium boasts 350 projectors and presents multimedia and topical shows. Nearby is the world's tallest five-sided building, the thirty-story World Trade Center, designed by I. M. Pei. The "Top of the World" observation deck on the building's 27th floor offers a panoramic view of the harbor.

One of the most spectacular sights at the Inner Harbor is the seven-level National Aquarium, whose unique glass pyramid roofs create dramatic reflections in the water. It is the city's top attraction and was rated one of the country's best family attractions in 2004, according to USA Today. More than 10,500 aquatic specimens and 560 species of animals are housed in the exhibits and the Aquarium is crowned by a 64-foot-high model of an Amazon rain forest that looks out over the harbor.

Port Discovery is Baltimore's children's museum and offers interactive exhibits and features a three-story urban tree house. Child magazine ranked it among the country's five top children's museums in 2002.

Visitors to Baltimore's Inner Harbor may take advantage of the Water Taxi, which from mid-April to mid-October shuttles between major points of interest around the harbor. For longer excursions, public and charter cruises, as well as brunch and dinner cruises, are available through Harbor Cruises.

Among Baltimore's many historical landmarks is the National Park at Fort McHenry, the unusual star-shaped fort that was the site of Baltimore's victory over the British bombardment during the War of 1812, and the inspiration for the U.S. national anthem. The fort's battlements have been carefully preserved. The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, built in 1793, preserves the site where Mary Pickersgill sewed the 30-inch by 42-inch flag that flew at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. A collection of early American art, Federal period furniture, and a unique map of the United States composed of stones from each state are presented.

Homes of several famous Baltimore residents are open to the public. The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum offers exhibits commemorating baseball legend Babe Ruth and Maryland baseball history, with numerous photos and memorabilia of Baltimore's major-league teams, the Orioles. The childhood home of Babe Ruth is preserved as it was at the time of his birth in 1895. Continuing the baseball theme, the Baseball Center located in the Camden Station Passenger Terminal building at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. About four times the size of Babe Ruth's birthplace, the facility houses archives, classrooms, a baseball theater, a baseball-themed restaurant, and a main corridor that resembles a 1920s railroad car. The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum on Banneker's 142-acre homesite commemorates this son of a freed slave and grandson of an African prince.

Edgar Allan Poe lived and wrote in Baltimore from 1832 to 1835. His home on North Amity Street is open to the public. Writer and journalist H. L. Mencken, locally known as the "Sage of Baltimore," lived in Baltimore for more than 68 years until his death in 1956. His nineteenth-century row-house overlooking scenic Union Square has been carefully restored with its original furniture and much of Mencken's personal memorabilia. The H. L. Mencken House is part of a seven-museum and park complex collectively known as Baltimore City Life Museums. Other historical buildings around Baltimore include the Baltimore City Hall, Shot Tower, The Washington Monument, and the George Peabody Library of Johns Hopkins University.

Baltimore has many public gardens and parks. The largest is Druid Hill Park, at 674 acres one of the country's largest natural city parks. One hundred fifty acres are devoted to the popular Baltimore Zoo, which features the largest captive colony of African black-footed penguins. Also in Druid Hill Park is the Conservatory, a remarkable glass pavilion similar in construction to the Victorian-era "Crystal Palace" built in 1888. Known as "The Palm House," the building contains an extensive collection of tropical and desert plants. Other gardens include Cylbyrn Arboretum, on the grounds of Cylbyrn Mansion, and Sherwood Gardens, located in the beautifully-landscaped neighborhood of Guildford.

Arts and Culture

Those seeking fine music, theater, and dance performances will not be disappointed in Baltimore, which has seen a recent renewal of interest in the arts, including new construction or major renovation of existing performing centers. The acoustically impressive Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In addition to its classical programs, which include a number of celebrity performers each year, the orchestra presents a Pops series. The Baltimore Opera Company performs full-scale grand opera at the restored Lyric Opera House, a replica of Germany's Leipzig Music Hall. Summer concert series are held at the Pier Six Concert Pavilion, a unique fabric-covered structure where jazz, country, and classical music, and musical comedy programs are presented by top-name performers. The Eubie Blake National Museum and Cultural Center, dedicated to the famous Baltimore-born pianist, fosters the development and sponsors performances of community artists. Classes are held at the center in music, dance, and drama. The Creative Alliance at the Patterson showcases a variety of entertainment in a 1930s movie theatre.

Baltimore theater-goers will find dramatic productions to suit every taste. The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre offers a wide range of pre- and post-Broadway productions. Center Stage is among the nation's top ten regional theaters and produces six classic and modern plays each year. Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre offers musicals, comedies, dramas and a children's each summer on the CCBC Essex campus. The Arena Players is one of the foremost black theater companies on the East Coast and the Theatre Project is known internationally for its experimental music, drama, and dance.

Baltimore's museums and galleries offer a variety of art and artifacts for viewing. The lifetime collections of Baltimore residents William and Henry Walters are gathered at the Walters Art Museum. Its treasures include more than 30,000 objects from 5,500 years of history—from pre-Dynastic Egypt to twentieth century Art Nouveau. Particularly resplendent collections are held in ivories, jewelry, enamels, bronzes, illuminated manuscripts and rare books. Baltimore's other major art museum is the Baltimore Museum of Art, designed by John Russell Pope, architect of Washing-ton's National Gallery. The museum's prize holding is the "Cone Collection," a large and valuable collection of paintings and sculpture by such European Post-Impressionist masters as Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso, and Van Gogh. The museum also has important collections of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American paintings, sculpture, and furniture, art from Africa and Oceania, and the works of Andy Warhol. One of Baltimore's newest museums, the American Visionary Art Museum, combines two historic buildings with modern museum architecture. Said to be the only such institution in the country, the museum was officially designated by the U.S. Congress as "the national museum, education and repository center, the best in self-taught, outsider or visionary artistry." The Contemporary Museum is part of an emerging "arts row" on Centre Street.

In the historical former residence of nineteenth-century Baltimore philanthropist Enoch Pratt is the Maryland Historical Society. The Society's Museum and Library of Maryland History are of particular interest to researchers; of general interest are collections of portraits by famous American artists, valuable nineteenth-century silver, furniture from 1720 to 1950, and Francis Scott Key's original manuscript of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Near the heart of industrial South Baltimore, the Baltimore Museum of Industry, housed in the former Platt Oyster Cannery, features recreations of turn-of-the-century machinery, printing, and metalworking workshops, as well as a garment loft.

The B & O Railroad Museum is designed around Mount Clare Station, which was built in 1830 for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as the nation's first passenger and freight station. The original 1884 roundhouse, tracks, and turntable have been preserved. Among the more than 130 railroad cars on display here, both originals and replicas, is "Tom Thumb," the first steam locomotive. The Museum has renovated the roundhouse, added exhibits, train rides, visitor facilities and a museum store and had scheduled a grand reopening for spring 2005. The Baltimore Public Works Museum preserves the history of the city's public works with a collection of more than 2,000 items including early wooden water pipes, water meters, numerous photographs, and an early twentieth-century water-pumping truck. The museum itself was once a sewage pumping station, built in 1912. Much of the art collection of Baltimore's artistic Peale family can be seen at the Peale Museum, which has three floors of exhibits, including a floor dedicated to a history of the Baltimore rowhouse.

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum is the first of its kind and represents black history and heritage through more than 100 historical wax figures as well as paintings, sculpture, and carvings. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, located at Inner Harbor, was scheduled to open June 2005. Its focus is on the lives, history and culture of African Americans in Maryland. It has partnered with the State Board of Education which has adopted a curriculum linked to the museum's programs. The Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park on the Fells Point Riverfront is also scheduled to open in the summer 2005. The $12 million park is sponsored by the Living Classrooms Foundation and features exhibits and monuments dedicated to the two entrepreneurs, a shipbuilding workshop, a working marine railway, outdoor amphitheater, dockage for historic ships, and other multicultural displays.

Festivals and Holidays

Most of Baltimore's festivals begin in late spring and continue on weekends throughout the fall. The colorful Maryland Kite Festival, held on the last Saturday in April, is a competition with homemade kites, judged for their beauty, flight performance, and design. Also in April is the highly acclaimed Baltimore International Film Festival, held for one month and presenting numerous entries in such categories as documentaries, movies by women or children, and animation. The Blues Fest is usually held in June. The African American Heritage Festival is held for three days in June at Oriole Park in Camden Yards.

Artscape is a lively outdoor festival held in July showcasing local artistic and musical talent. Baltimore's famous and very popular Showcase of Nations—a series of weekly ethnic festivals held from June through September—celebrates the heritage of many cultures through music, dance, crafts, and international cuisine.

September is the month of the Maryland State Fair, held at the Fairgrounds in nearby Timonium. The week-long state fair features livestock, produce, and equestrian competition from Maryland 4-H groups, as well as an amusement midway and horse racing. September also brings the Baltimore Book Festival, a celebration of the literary arts.

In October the Fells Point Fun Festival celebrates the historical waterfront neighborhood with two days of arts and crafts, entertainment, maritime exhibits, neighborhood tours, and music ranging from jazz and blues to Polish polkas. December's parade of lighted boats adds to the festive season and New Year's Eve Extravaganza offerings include parties at the convention center, ice skating demonstrations, live music and fireworks at the harbor (on January 1st).

Sports for the Spectator

Baltimore's American Conference East Division indoor soccer team, the Baltimore Blast, plays at Baltimore Arena; the team's season runs from October to March, with post-season play in April.

Professional football returned to the city with great fanfare after a 12-year absence when the newly christened Baltimore Ravens (formerly the Cleveland Browns and renamed in honor of the Edgar Allan Poe poem) played their first official National Football League game in 1996. The team now plays in the state-of-the-art M & T Bank Stadium. College football and basketball are represented by the University of Maryland Terrapins, Towson State Tigers, Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, and the Naval Academy Midshipmen at nearby stadiums.

Baseball fans come out to watch the American League Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Architects have praised its distinctive turn-of-the-century style, which is in keeping with its old urban neighborhood. The 48,000-seat stadium incorporates a landmark B & O Railroad warehouse that has been converted to office space for the ball club and the Maryland Stadium Authority. Another popular warm-weather sport is lacrosse, played by the champion Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays at Homewood Field; the Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame is located adjacent to Homewood Field.

Thoroughbred racing, always popular with Maryland horse breeders and followers, can be seen at Pimlico Racecourse, Maryland's oldest racetrack. The famous Preakness Stakes, second jewel in the Triple Crown, is run here in May. In October on Maryland Million Day, thoroughbreds race at Pimlico Racecourse and purses total more than $1 million. Maryland's most famous steeplechase is the annual Maryland Hunt Cup, held in Baltimore County.

Sports for the Participant

Baltimore's proximity to the Chesapeake Bay makes all sorts of water-related activities are favorite pastimes of many area residents. Sail- and powerboat regattas are held at the Inner Harbor, nearby Annapolis, and Havre de Grace throughout the summer months. Numerous marinas and yacht clubs dot the bay and river inlets near Baltimore, and local pleasure boats can be seen all along the Chesapeake on a clear day. Fishing, crabbing, and clamdigging are also very popular, even within city limits.

Numerous public and private golf clubs dot the Baltimore area. Art Links Baltimore is a miniature course designed by regional artists and architects. Art Links' 18 holes celebrate the culture of the Baltimore region, incorporating tracks of the B & O Railroad or depicting a crab feast, for example. Tennis courts are available in many of the city's parks, as are bike paths and swimming pools.

Shopping and Dining

Most of the malls in the Baltimore area are located in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, close to the city, but many specialized shopping centers can be found within city limits, at Lexington Mall and along Antique Row, for instance. The twin pavilions of Harborplace and The Gallery offer shops and restaurants at the water's edge. Lexington Market, which underwent a revitalization in 2002, features more than 140 merchants selling fresh seafood, produce, and international delights. Lexington Market is part of Market Center, a bustling and colorful collection of more than 400 diverse shops. One of the oldest and most luxurious shopping districts in Baltimore is the Charles Street Corridor, where shoppers can find numerous art galleries, jewelers, stationers, furriers, and specialty boutiques; new stores are interspersed with enduring older ones.

As with many other aspects of Baltimore living, restaurant dining is greatly influenced by the city's proximity to the Chesapeake Bay. A wide range of Baltimore restaurants specialize in preparation of crabs, oysters, clams, mussels, and fish from the Bay. Many Baltimore restaurants also reflect the port city's rich ethnic heritage, and diverse international cuisines can be enjoyed throughout the downtown area.

Baltimore: Economy

Major Industries and Commercial Activity

Baltimore's heritage as a strategically-located East Coast port is drawn upon by its developers today. The city's revived downtown and central location among major East Coast cities has made it increasingly attractive to new or expanding businesses. The blue-collar tradition exemplified by Bethlehem Steel's ranking as top employer in the 1980s is being replaced by jobs in the service sector in fields such as law, finance, medicine, hospitality, entertainment, maritime commerce and health. Growth in the high-technology market in areas such as electronics, information technology, telecommunications and aerospace research has also created new jobs.

Baltimore is an established center of medicine and biosciences. It is a national headquarters for advanced medical treatment and research with two pioneering teaching hospitals, Johns Hopkins Hospital and University Hospital at the University of Maryland. The Baltimore area is the research center for the mapping of the human genome and its resulting commercial applications.

Year after year, Greater Baltimore ranks among the nation's top twenty markets in key retail categories. Tourism, spurred on by the opening or expansion of downtown attractions, has boosted construction and the success of the Inner Harbor renovation has lured city residents back downtown. Tourism in Baltimore brought increased revenues from 2003 to 2004, with increased hotel occupancy rates, convention–related spending, overall air travel to the city, increased tax revenues and growth in the number of leisure and hospitality jobs.

Among the city's major exports are coal, grain, iron, steel, and copper products. Baltimore also remains a center for shipbuilding.

The Baltimore metropolitan area is home to three companies on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the country: food distributor U.S. Foodservice Inc., power tool giant Black & Decker Corp., and Constellation Energy, the utility holding company that owns Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.

Incentive Programs—New and Existing Companies

Local programs

The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore helps businesses to access the broad range of competitive incentives offered by the State of Maryland and local jurisdictions, as well as Baltimore Gas and Electric. Municipalities and the State of Maryland offer attractive financing programs including industrial revenue bonds, small business and high technology loans, and community development block grants. Many of these loans offer interest rates that are below market. Payment-in-lieu-of Taxes (PILOT) agreements with the City of Baltimore exempt businesses from property taxes on certain real estate within the city for a specified length of time and substitute a negotiated payment.

State programs

The One Maryland Tax Credit Program for development in a "qualified distressed county" allows up to $5 million in project tax credits and an additional $500,000 in start-up tax credits. In addition to the One Maryland program, four other business finance programs are offered through the state, consisting of loans and grants. Enterprise zone property and income tax credits are available. Foreign Trade Zone #74 houses port-related activities and includes facilities for assembly, distribution, packaging, manufacturing and warehousing.The zone, which saw a reorganization and major expansion of more than 1,000 acres in 2001, now encompasses 1,464 acres.

Job training and recruitment programs

The Economic Alliance also partners with area colleges and universities to provide customized training to ensure a quality workforce. The Maryland Industrial Training Program (MITP), as well as some local programs, provides reimbursement grants for the development and training of new employees in firms that are locating or expanding their workforce in Maryland. The level of funding provided is negotiated between the company and the State of Maryland, with specific cost sharing items spelled out in a training grant agreement. The Partnership for Work-force Quality (PWQ) provides matching skill training grants. The Business Training Network (BTN) is a network of regional community colleges providing training and recruitment programs. Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Program (MATP) offers free technical assistance to companies who want to set up apprenticeship programs. Additional workforce resources include the Greater Baltimore Regional Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) Initiative, providing employers the opportunity for recruitment directly from the regional and national military population. Career Net is a workforce database linking employers and job seekers.

Development Projects

Baltimore is continuing its redevelopment program for its Inner Harbor and downtown areas. The $71 million Calvert Mercier Lombard Grant Street redevelopment project is designed to include 300 apartments, retail space and a 542-car parking garage in the heart of the central business district. Improved water taxi/commuter service at Inner Harbor provides tourists and commuters with easy access to the city's cultural, business, entertainment, historic and recreational venues. The city also plans to redevelop Oldtown Mall, a once thriving pedestrian mall in East Baltimore. The west side of the city is also seeing revitalization in the Westside Initiative which incorporates the redevelopment of 100 square blocks and links the finance district to the University of Maryland's graduate and medical schools.

Ten of Baltimore's neighborhood commercial districts received a financial boost over three years under a national Main Street program. The revitalization initiative followed the National Trust for Historic Preservation model, using more than $1.5 million in city, state, and private funds. The program has been successful in creating 210 new businesses, more than 700 new full–and part–time jobs, and 291 facáde improvement projects.

Commercial Shipping

Baltimore-Washington International Airport is a major cargo carrier for the mid-Atlantic region. CSX and Norfolk Southern railroad systems service industry throughout the Baltimore area. Several major interstate highways run through Baltimore; I-95 links Baltimore with major cities from New England to Florida, and I-70 connects it with the Midwest. More than 100 trucking lines also accommodate the Baltimore area.

The most significant mover of goods in the area is the port of Baltimore, the fifth largest and one of the busiest deep-water ports in the nation. One hundred fifty miles closer to key midwestern markets than any other Atlantic Coast port, the port of Baltimore has lower transportation costs between its marine terminals and inland points of cargo origin or destination. Baltimore also benefits by having two access routes to its port: from the north through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and from the south up the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1980, more than one-half billion dollars has been invested in maritime-related improvements to the Port.

Labor Force and Employment Outlook

Sixty-eight percent of population over 25 in the City of Baltimore has a high school diploma and 19.1 percent has a bachelor's degree or more. Baltimore's job growth rate was up in 2004 and ranked in the top quarter of the nation's metro areas. Education and health services, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality were the major industries facing job gains. The largest job losses were in the information and manufacturing sectors.

The following is a summary of data regarding the Baltimore Metropolitan area (PMSA) labor force, 2003 annual averages.

Size of civilian labor force: 1,344,649

Number of workers employed in . . .

construction and mining: 73,700

manufacturing: 80,200

trade, transportation and utilities: 237,000

information: 20,600

financial activities: 81,800

professional and business services: 172,000

educational and health services: 199,500

leisure and hospitality: 107,100

other services: 55,700

government: 218,900

Average hourly earnings of production workers employed in manufacturing: $15.36 (MSA)

Cost of Living

When it comes to buying groceries, paying a mortgage or hopping on a subway, Baltimore is one of the most affordable of all East Coast cities. The following is a summary of data regarding several key cost of living factors for the Baltimore area.

Baltimore: History

City Founded on Tobacco-Centered Economy

The geology at the mouth of the Patapsco River determined the location of Baltimore. The area lies on a fall line where hard rocks of the piedmont meet the coastal plains of the tidewater region. A large, natural harbor had formed, and streams coursing from the north and west toward the Patapsco fall line had tremendous velocity. This made them ideal sites for water-driven mills. Additionally attractive to early settlers were the plentiful forests, fertile countryside, and moderate climate that was ideal for agriculture.

In 1632, England's King Charles I gave George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) a vast area in colonial America that became Baltimore County in 1659. During the 1660s the Maryland General Assembly appointed commissioners who granted land patents and development privileges to enterprising colonists. Although the Piscataway and Susquehannock tribes originally lived in neighboring regions, tribal competition and the onslaught of colonial diseases dissipated all but a few hundred of the Native Americans in Maryland by 1700.

The sandy plains bordering the Chesapeake Bay were ideal for growing tobacco, and a tobacco-based economy quickly developed in pre-Revolutionary Maryland. An area of 550 acres, formerly known as "Cole's Harbor," was sold to Baltimore landowners Daniel and Charles Carroll in 1696; they sold a parcel of this land in one-acre lots for development. These lots became Baltimore Town, which grew quickly in both size and trade. By 1742 regular tobacco shipments were leaving Baltimore harbor for Europe.

Radical Politics Gain Popularity

Productive mills had also sprung up along the northwestern tributaries of the Patapsco; the market for locally-milled flour and grain was primarily directed toward the British slave and sugar colonies in the West Indies. This trade was cut off at the outset of the American Revolution, a loss that cost Baltimore. The loss was partly mitigated when Congress authorized private citizens to arm and equip their own vessels for war in 1776; privateering became a growth industry in Baltimore, since the city had become an important center for shipbuilding. Anti-British activities in the city during this era earned Baltimore a reputation for radical politicking that lasted through the nineteenth century. Baltimore was the meeting place of the Continental Congress after the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777.

After the Revolutionary War, Baltimore, incorporated in 1797, resumed its commercial success by exporting grain, particularly to South America. A slump in maritime trade prompted the building of America's first public railroad in Baltimore in 1828, thus linking the city to other parts of the country and expanding commercial possibilities. During the Civil War, Maryland remained Unionist but Baltimore was split. Trade was cut off with the South and badly hurt with the North, but Baltimore managed to profit as a military depot. The city recovered rapidly from the physical and economic damages of the war, embarking during the reconstruction era on the period of its greatest prosperity.

Renewal Follows Destruction

In 1904 Baltimore was struck by a fire that had started in a cotton warehouse and soon spread to destroy more than 2,000 buildings. This calamity initiated improvements in the streets and the harbor and the construction of a sewer system that was considered one of the most modern of its time. The city again prospered during World War I, its economy remained relatively untouched by the 1930s Depression, and Baltimore continued to flourish as a military supply center during World War II.

Baltimore's urban renewal began in 1947, when inner city decay was so extensive that more than 45,000 homes were considered substandard. A rigorous construction and rehabilitation program reduced this number to 25,000 by 1954. In 1955 public and private cooperation resulted in the formation of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a group of influential businessmen who worked with municipal agencies to develop civic programs. Extensive neighborhood revitalization and development were undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s. Projects included the construction of shops and restaurants in Harbor Place, the Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium, the American Visionary Art Museum and the construction of a rapid transit line to the suburbs. Waterfront development carried in the 1990s and into the new millennium, with many old neighborhoods experiencing a growth in popularity. Development continues along with historical preservation and the careful blending of the past and the present. More than $1 billion in new development is in the works, including hotels, retail space, increased arts offerings and technology improvements to Baltimore's harbor.

The 1990s were also a time of sharp population declines. Like many of the older, urban areas of the northeast, Baltimore faced an exodus to the suburbs and lost 11.5 percent of its population. Today, Baltimore is beginning to buck the trend. From 2000 to 2003, it lost only 3.2 percent.

In 1999, white city councilman Martin O'Malley won the Baltimore Democratic mayoral primary, defeating 16 candidates, 8 of whom were African American, in this predominantly African American city. Mr. O'Malley went on to win the mayoral election after a campaign in which he promised to clean the streets of open-air drug markets and have zero tolerance for crime. By 2004, Baltimore led the nation's 25 largest cities in a five-year reduction in violent crime, with the city experiencing a drop of 40 percent in violent crimes from 1999 to 2004.

Baltimore

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

Baltimore, city (1990 pop. 736,014), N central Md., surrounded by but politically independent of Baltimore co., on the Patapsco River estuary, an arm of Chesapeake Bay; inc. 1745. The largest city in the state, it is a commercial and industrial center, a major railhead, and a seaport with extensive anchorages and dock and storage facilities. Coal, grain, and iron, steel, and copper products are exported. Among Baltimore's leading industries are shipbuilding, sugar and food processing, oil refining, biotechnology, and the manufacture of chemicals, steel, copper, clothing, and aerospace equipment.

Institutions and Attractions

A cultural and educational center, Baltimore is the seat of The Johns Hopkins Univ. with its famous medical center, the Univ. of Baltimore, Morgan State Univ., Loyola College in Maryland, the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Coppin State Univ., and the Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, with schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, law, and social work. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has had its headquarters in the city since 1986. Also there are the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Maryland Academy of Sciences, the Walters Art Gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. The Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra are well known. Since the 1970s filmmakers including John Waters and Barry Levinson have made Baltimore scenes widely familiar, as has novelist Anne Tyler.

The city's historical sites include Flag House; the first Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States (1806–21; designed by B. H. Latrobe); the Edgar Allan Poe House (c.1830); Westminster Churchyard, where Poe is buried; Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (see National Parks and Monuments, table); the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum; and numerous colonial homes. The U.S.S. Constellation, the first U.S. navy ship (1797) and a national historic shrine, as well as other historic ships, are docked at Baltimore's Harborplace.

Other landmarks are the historic square Mt. Vernon Place, which contains the Washington Monument (1815–42; designed by Robert Mills); Druid Hill Park, with a zoo and a natural history museum; and Pimlico Race Course, site of the Preakness, held annually since 1873. Many of the city's famous streets of redbrick row houses with scrubbed white steps still exist, although recent populaton loss has led to much demolition. H. L. Mencken, Babe Ruth, and Billie Holiday were born in Baltimore. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is nearby.

History

The site was settled in the early 17th cent. and Baltimore founded in 1729. The excellent harbor soon made it a center for the shipping of tobacco and grain. Shipbuilding, an early industry, flourished during the Revolution and the War of 1812 with the fitting out of many privateers, and in the early 1800s the famous Baltimore clippers were built. The nation's wars have played a large role in the city's history. When the British occupied (1777) Philadelphia, Baltimore became the meeting place of the Continental Congress. In the War of 1812 the gallant defense of Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to write
"The Star-spangled Banner."

After the War of 1812, Baltimore experienced phenomenal growth, largely because of the National Road. When the Erie Canal (completed in 1825) endangered the city's hold on trans-Allegheny traffic, Baltimore businessmen chartered (1827) the Baltimore & Ohio RR to meet the competition of New York as the ocean outlet for the West. During the Civil War, Baltimore was strongly pro-Southern in sentiment; the 6th Massachusetts Regiment, passing through the city in Apr., 1861, was attacked by a mob. A disastrous fire in 1904 destroyed almost the entire downtown but enabled the emergence of a better planned city.

In World Wars I and II, Baltimore was an important shipbuilding and supply-shipping center. During the 1960s and 70s, however, Baltimore decayed rapidly, losing population and commerce, largely to neighboring suburbs. Urban redevelopment in the late 1970s and 1980s included the construction of Harborplace (shops and restaurants) in the Inner Harbor area, the National Aquarium, shopping pavilions, hotels, a convention center, the Maryland Science Center, and the American Visionary Art Museum. Waterside renewal continued through the 1990s, and old neighborhoods such as Fells Point became newly popular. In 1983 a rapid-transit line to the suburbs was opened. In 1992, Baltimore's professional baseball team, the Orioles, moved to the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards; the National Football League's Ravens began play nearby in 1998.

Bibliography

See J. T. Scharf, History of Baltimore (1881; repr. in 2 vol., 1971) and The Chronicles of Baltimore (1874, repr. 1972); S. Olsen, Baltimore (1976) and Baltimore: The Building of an American City (1980); R. Miller et al., Baltimore (1988).

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

Baltimore: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

The Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) serves the largest number of low income and special needs students in the state of Maryland. It is struggling to create an effective educational environment for its children despite disastrous financial problems. The system's Master Plan is part of a city-state partnership aimed at reforming the troubled system by focusing on student assessment, program evaluation, institutional research, and shared planning and accountability. Master Plan II directs reform efforts through the 2007-2008 school year. These efforts are paying off with improvements in math and reading scores and reductions in class size.

The following is a summary of data regarding Baltimore's public schools as of fall 2003.

About 124 private and parochial schools operate in the Baltimore area.

Public Schools Information: Baltimore City Public School System, 200 East North Avenue, Room 319, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone (410)396-8577

Colleges and Universities

Of the approximately 30 colleges and universities located in the Baltimore metropolitan area, nearly half lie within the city limits. Towson State University, the oldest four-year college in Maryland and the largest in the Baltimore area, offers bachelor's degrees in 57 fields and master's degrees in 29. Considered one of Baltimore's outstanding assets, Johns Hopkins University boasts a world-renowned medical school and an affiliation with a prestigious music conservatory, the Peabody Institute. Loyola College offers a joint program in medical technology with Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center. The University of Baltimore, a state-supported institution, awards upper-division, graduate, and law degrees. One of five campus units of the University of Maryland, the University of Maryland at Baltimore offers professional programs in health and medical fields, social work, and law, as well as undergraduate degrees in a variety of fields. At Morgan State University students can earn advanced degrees in architecture, city and regional planning, and urban education. Coppin State University benefits from a cooperative program with local industries and offers both bachelor's and master's degree programs.

The Baltimore area's other large academic institutions include University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the U.S. Naval Academy, the Maryland Center for Career and Technology Education Studies, the Ner Israel Rabbinical College, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Harford Community College in Bel Air, Western Maryland College in Westminster, Howard Community College, and Carroll Community College.

Libraries and Research Centers

Baltimore's public library system, The Enoch Pratt Free Library, has 24 branches, a bookmobile, and a Central Library that also serves as the state Library Resource Center. Holdings consist of more than two million books, 4,000 current magazines, thousands of films and federal government documents, and more than 600,000 magazines, newspapers, and monographs on microform, videotapes, filmstrips, and other media. Special collections include African-American materials, the works of Baltimore authors H. L. Mencken and Edgar Allan Poe, the Howard Beck Memorial Philatelic Collection, and the Maryland Department, which holds extensive books, periodicals, and other documents on all aspects of life in the state of Maryland and its cities.

Research activities at centers affiliated with Johns Hopkins University focus on such subject areas as biophysics, Alzheimer's Disease, STDs, inherited diseases and other maladies, alternatives to animal testing, communications, and mass spectrometry. The University of Maryland at Baltimore also supports medical research work through its Center of Marine Biology. The Space Telescope Science Institute, the principal scientific element of the NASA Hubble Space Telescope Project, is based in Baltimore.

Baltimore

Dictionary of American History
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BALTIMORE

BALTIMORE, the largest city in Maryland, was founded as a port city in 1729 and then incorporated as a city in 1796. Baltimore takes its name from Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Due to its vast natural harbor, the city served as a shipbuilding and transportation hub for the Middle Atlantic states throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the growth of railroads in the 1830s, Baltimore served as a headquarters for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the largest in North America. The city continued to compete vigorously with Philadelphia and New York into the twentieth century, gaining Bethlehem Steel's main shipyards and maintaining large port facilities. Heavy industry's movement away from major cities in the 1950s and 1960s contributed to Baltimore's sharp economic decline. Beginning in the 1950s, city leaders attempted to reverse its fortunes.

The city's renewal efforts rank among the most ambitious in the United States. William Schaefer, the city's outspoken mayor from 1971 to 1986, managed construction of the Inner Harbor Project, the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, as well as a convention center and two waterfront malls. Neighborhoods, however, lagged, and lost business to the harbor area, but Schaefer obtained federal money for housing improvement loans and neighborhood pride projects. Despite these efforts neighborhoods continued to decline and the drug trade flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, blighting neighborhoods even further.

Baltimore's African American population increased from 24 percent in 1950 to more than 60 percent in 1994, and in 1987 the city elected Kurt Schmoke its first black mayor. After his reelection in 1991, the stimulus of urban reconstruction was almost over, federal and state funds had dried up, and the tourist boom had leveled off. Schmoke and Schaefer, the latter was elected governor in 1987, persuaded the Maryland legislature to expand the city's transportation system; to assume certain expenses from its community college, libraries, zoo, and jail; and to build a stadium, Camden Yards, beside the Inner Harbor for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. Even as the city declined in population and wealth, it was merging with its suburbs and surrounding area. In 1993, the U.S. Census Bureau recognized a combined Washington-Washington-Baltimore Consolidated Statistical Area. The city's population dropped from 950,000 in 1950 to 736,000 in 1990 and then to 651,154 in 2000. Despite a booming economy, the population drop in Baltimore was among the largest in U.S. cities during the 1990s. The 2000 mayoral election emphasized the crisis of Baltimore's neighborhoods as the city's social network continues to struggle.

Baltimore: Communications

Newspapers and Magazines

Baltimore is served by one major daily newspaper, The Baltimore Sun. The Daily Record provides daily business and legal news, and The Baltimore Business Journal and The Jeffersonian (Baltimore County) are business weeklies. Weekly newspapers published in Baltimore include The Baltimore Times, (part of the BlackPressUSA Network) Baltimore City Paper; Baltimore Guide; and Baltimore Messenger. The Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel is published monthly.

More than 200 newspapers, periodicals, and directories are published in Baltimore, including numerous medical journals such as The Lancet (North American Edition). Quarterly publications include Maryland Historical Magazine.

Television and Radio

Seven television stations broadcast from Baltimore: affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, public television, and the Home Shopping Network. Stations originating in nearby communities are also accessible to Baltimore-area residents, as is cable service.

The 17 Baltimore and nine area AM and FM radio stations broadcast programming that ranges from news, religious material, and public broadcasting to music that includes classical, jazz, country, gospel, easy listening, top-40, and contemporary styles.

Baltimore: Transportation

Approaching the City

The recently expanded Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, located just 10 miles from downtown Baltimore, is one of the fastest-growing major airports in the country. BWI has 18 carriers that provide more than 600 daily flights, including nonstop flights to 72 cities in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.

Major highway links between Baltimore and other cities are Interstate-95, which runs all along the East Coast, and I-70, which crosses through western Maryland to the Midwest. Interstate 395 runs south from Baltimore to Washington and Virginia; I-83 runs north through the city toward central Pennsylvania. All these interstates intersect with I-695, the Baltimore Beltway, which circles the city. Those approaching the central city by car should be aware that most of the streets are one way.

Just north of downtown is the historical, restored Pennsylvania Station, where Amtrak trains pull in and out. For commuters, the Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC) provides weekday service on the most extensive track commuter rail system in the Greater Baltimore region, including 43 stations over three lines (Brunswick, Camden and Penn) covering a total of 187 miles. Twenty trains run from the Maryland/Delaware border, south to Montgomery County, MD. MARC also provides convenient access to both downtown Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Traveling in the City

Baltimore's highly regarded mass transit system consists of 850 buses, the Metro (subway), light rail, and the Maryland Area Rail Commuter system (MARC). The Metro's 15.5 mile system extends from the Owings Mills corporate and shopping complex in Baltimore County, through the heart of the downtown business, shopping and sightseeing districts to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

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Baltimore: Convention Facilities

With its mid-Atlantic coast location and easy access by air, rail, or automobile, Baltimore has long been a strategic choice for convention-holders. The recent redevelopment of the city's downtown Inner Harbor area has made Baltimore even more attractive to conventioneers, who enjoy the many fine restaurants, retail centers, and cultural attractions on or near the water.

Baltimore's largest meeting facility is the Baltimore Convention Center located at the Inner Harbor. An expansion of the facility completed in 1996 tripled its size to more than 1.2 million square feet. A 36,672-square-foot ballroom, 50 meeting rooms, and 300,000 square feet of exhibition space on one level make for an extremely flexible facility.

The Baltimore Arena is used primarily for sporting events and travelling circuses, but it also has 25 meeting rooms for 20 to 300 people. The facility has an auditorium with a capacity for 13,000 people, and parking accommodations for 5,000 cars. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is available for trade shows. Many of Baltimore's downtown hotels also provide meeting facilities. There are more than 8,000 hotel rooms within a mile radius of the Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Marriott-Waterfront, which opened in 2000, is a 31-story hotel with 750 guestrooms, 80,000 square feet of total meeting space, exhibition space and 38 meeting rooms.

Baltimore: Health Care

Thirty accredited hospitals offering a wide range of general and specialized services are located within the Baltimore city limits. Cardiac rehabilitation units, hospice programs, extensive psychiatric and drug rehabilitation programs, and neonatal intensive care are among the special services available in various Baltimore hospitals. In addition to the many fine teaching hospitals throughout the city, Baltimore's institutions include two world-class medical schools: the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, affiliated with the university, is one of the largest, most advanced, most prestigious hospitals in the South; its oncology center and eye clinic are world famous. The Johns Hopkins $125 million Comprehensive Cancer Center, opened in 2000, provides the most advanced cancer care in the country. The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the Baltimore Regional Burn Center are recognized programs for the treatment of burn injuries. Another of Baltimore's teaching hospitals, the University of Maryland Medical System, boasts a shock trauma center that was one of the first of its kind. Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is one of the city's largest and most completely equipped hospitals. Another teaching facility, Union Memorial Hospital, is known for its work in sports medicine; Maryland General Hospital is also a teaching hospital. Other Baltimore hospitals are Bon Secours Hospital serving West Baltimore, Mercy Medical Center, and Children's Hospital.

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Baltimore: Introduction

Baltimore's fortuitous location on the northern Chesapeake Bay has been at the heart of its social and economic development. Farther inland than other eastern seaport, the city is convenient to landlocked areas. Water-related industry quickly developed around Baltimore harbor, and when tracks for the nation's first railroad were laid there in 1829, the thriving port city increased both its accessibility to other cities and its attractiveness to immigrants and investors.

Through careful city planning and cooperation between public and private investors, Baltimore has entered the ranks of America's "comeback cities" in recent years. Its downtown business district has been transformed into a mecca of sparkling new hotels, retail centers, and office buildings. But Baltimore has not wholly exchanged its traditional working-class image for high-technology polish. Many of its urban renewal programs focus on the preservation or renovation of historical buildings and neighborhoods amidst new construction. For example, its wildly popular Oriole Park at Camden Yards offers state-of-the-art amenities in a turn-of-the-century style baseball stadium. Nicknamed the "charmed city," Baltimore has become a top tourist destination.

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Baltimore: Geography and Climate

Located on the Mid-Atlantic coast, Baltimore was built at the mouth of the Patapsco River, which empties directly into the Chesapeake Bay. The city is protected from harsh weather variations year-round by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Appalachian Mountains due west. Freezing temperatures generally do not occur after mid-April or before the end of October, allowing the area approximately 194 frost-free days. Precipitation, averaging 41 inches annually, tends to be equally distributed throughout the year, but the greatest amounts accrue during summer and early fall—the thunderstorm and hurricane seasons, respectively. Since snow is often mixed with rain and sleet due to Baltimore's relatively mild winter temperatures, freezing rain is considered a greater hazard to motorists and pedestrians than the infrequent snowfall that remains on the ground more than several days.

Baltimore

Baltimore City and port in nMaryland, USA, at the mouth of the Patapsco River, on Chesapeake Bay. Founded by the Irish baronial family of Baltimore as a tobacco port in 1729. During the 19th century it became an important shipbuilding centre. It is a notable centre of commerce and education, with three universities, and a major port. Industries: steelworks, oil refineries, shipbuilding, aerospace equipment. Pop. (2000) 654,154.

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